Promises and Such
by galaxyminded
Summary: Eren is valuable because of his powers. But people tend to forget, he is still human. He has things he wants to protect. When that is taken away from him, he can't stay behind walls and do nothing. Though it's selfish and a great gamble for humanity, he decides to risk his life to save the person he loves most. /Eremika. All characters belong to Isayama Hijme.
1. Chapter 1

**For pinkroomblackclothes on tumblr**

**~Merry Christmas~**

You can never tell what's going to happen in the future. You can plan that you will eat, say, steak, that is now worth more than a bag of diamonds, tomorrow for dinner. But that doesn't mean you will diffidently have steak. Perhaps you told yourself that you'll clean up your room at the end of the week. Is it sure to happen? No, not really. How about if you promise to meet your friend at the park next week? Who knows, maybe you'll die as you make that promise.

Promises. They are a risk now. Day by day my comrades are falling, and I try, so hard, to help. Person by person though, I fail. You do not make a promise at a time like this.

At a time, when it's not strange for you to die within the next hour.

Winter has come.

Life is harder now. It is a struggle for humanity to live through warm weathers alone; it's not going to be a stroll in the park through three months of icy winds and stinging cold, that's for sure. I look out in front of me. High above the towns, you could see everything from here, on the walls. The roofs and tall towers were covered with a thin layer of snow and frost. Everything was silent. It was just me and a world of white. It seemed so peaceful, when actually many people within those towns were suffering, many half-dead.

I turned my head. My frown deepened. This side of the wall was also covered in a layer of white. But the conditions were worse tenfold. In the distance, I can see the hole in the wall, and Titans roaming around. Eren, Armin, and I used to run around those streets down there, now covered with debris, blood, and rotting human corpses.

_One day, I'm going out there_, Eren had said. _There're gigantic bodies of water, mountains of sand that covers miles and miles, and a whole slab of land that's made of only ice. I'm going there one day!_

Oh, how many things I'd throw away to see that precious smile now. I don't know why, but that moment, sitting with two of the ones I love most, clung to my brain. I try not to look back into my past. It distracts me from what is in front of me, something that I just cannot afford. Our smiles from that day though, just won't leave me.

A shout from afar pulled me out of the murky flashback. A commotion was occurring where most of my comrades were. I quickly jogged over to them.

"What is it?" I asked Sasha. Her usually round and childish eyes were now replaced with worry.

Armin cut in. "A titan appeared." He pointed to a nearby two story house. Sure enough, there was a titan behind that roof. "Around five metres but…" He trailed off.

I knit my eyebrows. "But what?"

I leaned in closer as Armin lowered his voice. "The titan… I believe it's Deviant."

"You mean…"

My best friend nodded. "It's an Abnormal Titan. No one can tell how it's going to move."

I looked around to see if anybody have noticed as well. Armin shook his head.

"It was a slight movement so I'm not sure as well, but it looked at us. It knows we're here but it doesn't come like the usual ones. So far, I've been able to stop the rest from going."

Jean walked up to them. "No one heard it coming. It was like it just suddenly appeared."

I knit my brows. Something felt wrong…. "Where is Eren?"

Armin's grave eyes turned round. We looked at each other, and realized.

I moved my eyes back to the Deviant Titan. Circling the titan was a boy, his brown hair bumping up and down with motion.

Eren.

I cursed in my mind. Of course Eren would just jump into danger. I made a split second decision.

"I'll be right back, I prom-" the word caught in my throat as I said it to Armin. So I gulped it down. "I'll come back." At that, I sprinted to the edge, and jumped. The 3D maneuvering gear kicked in. My hair was pushed away from my face, my body pulled closer and closer to the fight due to the clamps that buried itself anywhere. I came to stop on the roof of the house closest to them.

"Eren!" I shouted. He didn't hear me. I sighed. I knew this was going to happen. The wires shot out of my gear and lodged it's self on a nearby tower. In a second I flew across the air around the back of the titan. It was simple.

Should've realized it was too simple.

I was an inch away from the vulnerable spot, when the titan suddenly fell forward. No not fell, moved. My blades cut air, and I fell through the air at high speed as the Deviant Titan pulled my wire from my gear down. My back hit a wooden door that nearly blew off from its hinges. The air was knocked out of me, and I lay immobile in shock for a few seconds on the ground. I hadn't moved yet, when the titan picked me up and started running towards the outer walls, its fingers curled around me, pushing my bones together but not crushing it. The oxygen in me was squeezed out, and none came back in. Little by little, I was being destroyed. My vision started disappearing, the corners replaced with curtains of black; of nothingness. The last thing I saw was Eren, propped unconscious on one of the roofs.

And then the curtains closed.


	2. Chapter 2

It seemed as though Pain had bear hugged me. Every inch of my body was sore, bruised, or broken, and the same went for my emotions as well. What? What was this? Thinking about that made my brain hurt too.

A familiar voice broke the silence.

Not just familiar, comforting. Armin. I tried opening my eyes, and succeeded a little. I was on one of the beds at the dim infirmary. Armin sat beside me on a small stool.

"Eren," Armin called again, a mixture of worry and relief and anger. Soft anger; the kind only Armin and my mother could do. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I talked with Jean." Come on, that was a pretty good one.

My best friend just looked at me though, every inch of his face serious.

I sighed. "I'm okay. Well not really, but I'll live."

That news didn't seem to cheer him up at all. "Armin, don't worry, I'll be fine." Still, his face was stoned. I sat up a little on the bed. "Hey, what's wrong?"

At that, his blue eyes concentrated on anywhere but my face. I knew something was wrong. Armin's eyes started to fill with tears.

"Eren," Armin's voice wavered. "I'm so sorry. I should've done something, I should've helped, but I couldn't see clearly from the wall and I had to make sure our comrades didn't run off as well and, and…" He was full out crying now.

"Armin what is it?"

"Mikasa… She's- she's gone."

I blinked. "What?"

Armin explained everything that happened. Word by word the tears falling from his cobalt blue eyes increased. After he finished, I still couldn't believe it.

"She's… dead?" I managed to squeak out.

"No, w- we don't know that." He didn't sound like he was convinced himself.

I plopped back down on the bed.

My mind went blank, and everything slipped away. The rush of my blood and the thu-dump of my heart filled my ears.

Thu-dump.

Thu-dump.

Thu-dump.

"No."

Armin looked up. "What?"

Though my legs were very well against me doing so, I started getting out of bed. I stumbled at first when I took a step, and nearly hit my head on the corner of the headset if Armin hadn't caught me.

"Eren! What are you doing? You're body isn't in the state to move yet!"

"Mikasa's not dead! Armin, you know that too, right?"

Even when we were kids he was smarter than some adults. He could analyze, think, solve; the way his brain worked was different. I trusted him and his decisions. But there are times like this when he needs a little push. Or a slap.

I whipped my hand across his face. He gaped at me.

"Armin! Snap out of it. Throw the idea of Mikasa dying out of your head!"

It worked. His eyes changed and his mouth set in a stubborn line. "Let's go ask for a search party."

My body was still sore, but I managed. I won't lay in bed while Mikasa was in danger. Armin half supported half dragged me to Commander Erwin's office.

I knocked. "Come in," Erwin said with his deep voice.

Captain Levi and Hange were already there. The strongest soldier of humanity's permanent scowl made up for his height's disadvantage anytime. As for the second brain of mankind, her* lips were pursed and her eyes were knowing.

I opened my mouth, but before anything came out, Hange cut in, "No."

"But, I haven't even said it yet! Ma'am." I quickly added.

Hange sighed. "You want a rescue party for Mikasa, yes?" She sounded regretful. "I'm sorry, Eren, but we just can't afford such a big risk for someone that might already be dead."

Again, I was cut off, this time by Armin. "But ma'am, that's the thing. I don't think Mikasa's dead."

"What makes you say that?" Levi argued.

"The titan was Abnormal, sir. It didn't eat Mikasa, it brought her with it, and completely ignored Eren, who was an unconscious human." At that, I couldn't help but give him a side glance.  
>My friend shrugged. "No offence intended." He looked back at the leaders. "There is a chance that it hadn't eaten Mikasa yet. So please, reconsider again."<p>

"What's your judgment?" Hange addressed Erwin.

Erwin had stayed silent for the whole time. He had his hands tightly entwined and his back stoic. We waited. He finally spoke.

"I understand you want to save her because of personal attachments. However, we just cannot afford to send out soldiers for just individuals, no matter how much they have aided us." Armin and I both opened our mouth to counter, but Commander Erwin put up a finger to silence us. He continued. "Convince me how it would be an asset to us and the future of humanity to bring her back."

Armin jumped right in. "Sir, Mikasa was the top trainee among us. Her skills on the 3D maneuvering gear are exceptional, not mentioning her intelligence and the ability to stay calm and rational at harsh moments. Losing her leadership would be a setback."

Erwin turned to me. "Anything else?"

"Uh… Mikasa's smart. Right you already said that," I thought some more. "She's good at killing titans, which was already mentioned. So uh… no, sir." I don't know why, I just felt the need to say something, to contribute at least a little.

"Mikasa may be able to keep titan-form Eren from going berserk again as well. Again, no offence intended." Armin added quickly.

I sighed. This much, I had nothing to say. "None taken."

The leaders had faces of stone. Armin and I gulped.

"We'll consider. Go out for now." Captain Levi ordered.

"But-"

"Eren," Hange warned.

I shut up.

Armin and I walked out (well, more liked Armin dragged me out). I couldn't help but worry, and it showed enough on my face for my friend to put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Eren, we did all we could do. Now, the only thing we can do is wait."

Armin and I sat by the wall in front of the door and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, after what felt like days, though it was probably more like half an hour, Hange came out, expressionless.

"Okay, we've decided."

Levi followed behind her. "We'll get a rescue party for Mikasa."

I exhaled a breath that I hadn't noticed I had been holding. A great grin appeared on Armin's face. We must've looked like idiots, but we were too happy and relieved to care. How long has it been since our lips rose this much?

It dropped again though. "However," Levi Heicho continued, "a deadline was set up." He lifted up his fingers "Three days, and no latter. Be back within the walls by the time the moon fully rises. Also, the people in the search party has to be volunteers."

"Volunteers?"

"Yes, as in you two have to get volunteers to go with you, and only up to ten others." Hange explained.

My brows furrowed. These limits were quite a challenge, but I didn't have time to sit here and argue then. I bolted up. "Okay, thank you very much." I looked at Armin. "We won't let you down."

That night, I yelled out the news to my comrades.

"So… anybody up for it?" Armin asked hopefully.

"You're asking us to risk our life for someone who might already be dead." Bertholdt commented.

"And we have three days to find where she is and get her back." Ymir asked.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

This is bad.

Thankfully, Armin had the talking skills. "You guys should know how good Mikasa is at what we do. I'm sure many of you were saved by Mikasa during battles, directly or indirectly. Isn't it high time we return the favour?"

Our teammates looked at each other.

"What are you guys thinking about? I'm going" Jean spoke out. "I'm not gonna let that shit face save Mikasa."

Sasha sighed. "You'll get mad at me if I don't, won't you."

Connie stood up next. Then Krista, Ymir, as well as Bertholdt and Reiner.

Armin and I smiled. "Thanks guys"

"When do we head out?" Connie asked.

"Now."

"I'm sorry?" Krista inquired.

Armin answered. "We go now."


End file.
